Windows 8 to Offer Native Mounting of ISOs and VHDs

The updates from Microsoft’s Windows 8 team keep on rollin’ in, and I have to admit that if the momentum keeps up, Windows 8 might even outshine the success of Windows 7. On Tuesday, the company released details about ISO and VHD native support – that is, the ability to mount either image and be able to access the files within.

At first, I had assumed that the ISO support would go as far as opening the file like an archive and then accessing the files that way, but no. This is a full-fledged ISO mounting solution, so software or games discs that you’ve backed up to your PC? Yes, you can mount and install them like a real disc in Windows 8, natively.

While this feature is one that many are going to be saying, “It’s about time!” to, I am just happy to see it coming. One of the first programs I ever install in a fresh Windows install is SlySoft’s Virtual CloneDrive, so this is a feature that will actually allow me to have one less program installed. VHD files can be mounted in the same way, for those using Microsoft virtualization solutions.

Yesterday, another blog post was made to help clear up the difference between the new Metro interface and also the regular Windows Explorer desktop we’ve all become accustomed to. Microsoft has stated that Metro isn’t a replacement per se for Explorer, but rather another option – one where both solutions can co-exist.

Although Metro looks to best suit tablets, Microsoft seems ambitious in believing that some could use it as a replacement for the traditional desktop. Thanks to this, if someone did want to use their PC in this way, the traditional desktop would not be loaded at all – as in, none of the code would be present. In this way, Metro is more of a replacement shell than an application running on top of the traditional desktop (eg: Windows Media Center).

As someone who can’t imagine using the Metro interface for more than a minute, I am glad to see that the traditional desktop environment is not being ignored. But Microsoft’s ambitions with Metro are clear, so it’s hard to guess how things will fare with Windows 9 or beyond.